ANYBODY CAN DO ANYTHING: BRING BACK BETTY MACDONALD!!

Several years ago a friend turned me on to a writer named Betty MacDonald, best known as the author of The Egg and I (1945) (the book that gave rise to the characters Ma and Pa Kettle), and who I say--let's start reading again!The book of hers I'm (re-)reading now is called Anybody Can Do Anything,
and it's all about Seattle in the Depression, and Betty's wacky
family--they're all back home, living with the chain-smoking,
novel-reading, mild-mannered mother--headed up by the oldest sibling,
Mary, and how Mary gets Betty, who is divorced with two young daughters,
a succession of odd jobs for which Betty is completely and utterly
unqualified.

Here's the conversation that ensues, for example, after Mary announces
to Betty that she's volunteered her for a job "at the Western Insurance
Company being private secretary to a perfectly darling man named Welton
Brown."I tried to keep my voice normal as I asked, "Just what have you told this Welton Brown I could do, Mary?"Mary said, "Stop interrupting and you'll find out. Because Welton gets
out a magazine, his secretary has to be able to type and take shorthand,
know all about insurance, be familiar with advertising and layouts,
draw well enough to illustrate the magazine and be able to write and
edit articles. He'd really prefer someone who's been published.""Well," I said, "A--I'm only mediocre to rotten in shorthand and typing; B--I don't know anything about advertising or layouts; C--I majored in art in college but we never drew anything but plaster casts; D--I
can't write and I've never had anything published and all my insurance
information is mixed up with chickens." [an allusion to what would
become her first book, see below]

Mary said, "Listen, Betty, I've known you for twenty-four years and
you've never thought you could do ANYTHING. Now there's a depression and
jobs are hard to find and you've got two children to support and it's
about time you grew up and changed your thinking to things you can do
instead of things you can't do. Mull over your talents and build up your
ego. A--you have to know insurance--you were married to an insurance salesman. B--You have to know advertising--you don't but I do and I can teach you. C--You
have to be able to draw and you say you can only draw plaster
casts--and what may I ask, could be more ideal training for an insurance
company with all their accidents? D--Shorthand and typing--if
Welton Brown thinks he can get a court reporter who can do all those
things he's a bigger jackass than I think he is. E--You have to
be able to write and that is one thing you have to admit you can do.
What about your children's stories--what about 'Sandra Surrenders'--I'll
bet the Ladies' Home Journal would snap it up if we ever finished it."In other words, this is a book we could all use in our own Depression
era, not because it has job-hunting tips but because of its complete
lack of self-pity and huge sense of fun.Betty ends up working as a photo tinter, an organizer for a rabbit
grower, a typer of bills for a florist, a dentist and a laboratory. She
works for an oil promoter, a public stenographer, a Mr. Wilson who runs a
pyramid scheme, and a gangster. Mary's also constantly setting Betty up
on gruesome blind dates, and as the two of them good-naturedly dismiss
the guy with roving hands as "Oh that old raper" and the elderly
lech as "Probably just some lonely old buzzard who wants to meet some
girls," I couldn't help reflecting upon how much we've lost in our
dreadful anti-sex-discrimination-lawsuit era. For fun, the sisters
(there are four of them) put on a pot of spaghetti, invite a crowd of
artistes--some of whom end up staying for years--and crowd around the
gramophone or piano making fun of each other, smoking, drinking endless
cups of coffee, putting on plays and/or singing. Actually, everyone in Betty's family, including her, chain-smoked, which
probably did not help stave off the TB that killed her at the age of
50, but again, you have to appreciate her refusal to whine or
blame. Here's the bridge from one job to another with which she alludes
to her year in a sanitarium about which she wrote the also delightful The Plague and I:"I finally collapsed with tuberculosis and was wheeled away from
the Treasury Department. When I got well again I went to work for the
National Youth Administration. The NYA and Mary would have seen eye to
eye about a lot of things. Executives for instance. Mary believed that
everybody but our collie was a potential executive and the NYA proved
it. "

There's also a great chapter--"All the World's a Stage"--on the free
entertainment to be found by going about the city ferreting out amateur
dance and song recitals:"Then Miss Grondahl announced that she would play "Rustle of Spring" and
"Hark, Hark the Lark." She had shed her gold cape and was simply clad
in a sleeveless black satin dress and some crystal beads. She settled
herself on the piano bench, folded her hands in her lap and began to
play. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and then suddenly,
like running in backdoor in jumping rope, she lit into the first runs
of "Rustle." Miss Grondahl was a vigorous very loud player but what made
her performance irresistible to [Betty's sister] Dede and me were the
large tufts of black hair which sprang quivering out of the armholes of
her dress each time she lifted her hands at the end of a run or raised
her arms for a crashing chord."Eventually, Betty re-marries, moves to Vashon Island, off the coast of
Washington state, and begins working for a contractor with cost-plus
government contracts (she would later write Onions in the Stew about her time there).

But first, Mary convinces her to write a book about her adventures on
the remote chicken ranch to which she'd moved with her first husband
(father to her two daughters): a marriage that had ended when Betty
matter-of-factly packed up the kids one rainy, gloomy day, walked them
down the hill, and boarded a bus for Seattle, never to return. The book
was accepted by J. B. Lippincott, serialized in the Atlantic Monthly, and
the rest was history, thereby proving Mary's theory that anybody can do
anything, or as she triumphantly told Betty, "You just feel successful,
but imagine how I feel. All of a sudden my big lies have started coming
true!"Would that we all had a sister Mary! And long live Betty MacDonald.

She
also wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books which were a staple of my
first-grade experience, and probably the reason I turned out
half-civilized. Any series with fathers named Hearthrug, kids named
Harvard and Cornell, and a pig who corrects people's table manners has
got to be a winner. Amazing lady.

My
book group read "The Egg and I" a few years ago and we all loved it.
What struck us as so refreshing was her lack of sentimentality and
introspection. It was so unlike most of the memoirs that we were
reading at the time.

Favorite chapter title in the Egg & I: "I Learn to Hate Even Baby Chicks" -- just typing it makes me giggle. Love
her! Thanks, Heather, for the reminder -- I read all her 'grown-up'
books when I was in college year #1 and feeling quite overwhelmed.Stefanie

What
a great story, Heather! Geographical note: Vashon Island isn't off the
coast of WA. It's in Puget Sound! The actual coast is miles across the
Olympic Peninsula. Vashon is one of those lovely places you can see from
Seattle, and still see the Olympic Mountains beyond.

Whoops--thank
you, Shannon. Geography has never been my strong suit--though the
island did, as you say, sound beautiful...Happy New Year to you. I'm
glad you are bringing a bit of comfort and hope to the prisoners...

How
great to meet another Betty fan! I have loved (not too strong a
word)her for years. I alswys cackle when I read Chapter 1 of The Egg
and I, where Betty talks about her Gammy. Gammy likes to wear an
"apern" and makes cookies from anything she might find in the icebox. I
could go on and on but like you, I re-read Ms Mac yearly. Thanks for
the awesome post. Karen Hesson

Hi
from down under. I absolutely am addicted to Betty MacDonald books!
Betty is the wittiest, cleverest writer with the most succint, keenest
observations of people. I cannot fathom that she was born in 1908! The
social pictures she evokes are still relevant to today eg the ever
changing moods of teenage daughters in Onions in the Stew.I was
fortunate to get a copy of a photo taken of Betty MacDonald and
Claudette Colbert(the actress who played her in the movie of The Egg and
I)

I
am so glad to know of another Betty MacDonald fan! And that social
picture of the teenage girls, growing up on the island, is priceless. I
love the part where one of them wails, (apropos of her no doubt flawless
young skin): "Mother, just LOOK at the pores in my nose! They're as big
as the holes in a cribbage board..." And that time they were trying to
collect driftwood and saw a washing machine floating around in the water
and tried to lasso it in with the sash from Betty's bathrobe...or
something like that...Anyway, she is as fresh, smart, and unbelievably
funny and relevant as ever. And that is grand you have a photo of her
and Claudette Colbert...

Stumbled
across this post while poking around the 'Net for pig farrowing shed
plans...Betty and I would get along fine, except for the chain-smoking
bit. I actually went to elementary school (on Vashon Island)
with one of her grandsons and can still remember when "Onions in the
Stew" was the hit play of our community theater group one winter. We
Island kids all grew up reading "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" stories, too. And
what has that done for me? Well, now my partner and I have our own
farm in Maine, where we keep Scottish Highland Cattle, inumerable
chickens for meat and eggs, a few guinea fowl, and heritage-breed pigs.
We love to get in over our heads--and sometimes succeed--with projects
we're not quite qualified to do, like building pig farrowing sheds!Thanks for a delightful post.

Anyone
who is looking, anywhere, for "'Net for pig farrowing shed plans"
deserves a gold star in my book! So thrilled to meet another Betty fan
PLUS someone who actually grew up on Vashon Island! The LA Times ran a
piece in their travel section a few weeks ago--apparently Betty's place
has been turned into a B and B and you can stay there! Though it
probably wouldn't be the same without Joan whining "You WANT us to look
ugly, Betty!" and Don mixing martinis and Anne spilling Tropical Passion
nail polish on one of Betty's borrowed cashmere sweaters and Betty,
cigarette in hand, making clam fritters. Your spread in Maine
sounds divine. (Having grown up on the coast of New Hampshire, I'm
forever a New Englander at heart). All the best with your cattle,
chickens and pigs! And thanks for the comment...

Betty MacDonald is beloved all over the world.Betty MacDonald fan club has members in 40 countries.Wolfgang
Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty
MacDonald's family and friends. Betty MacDonald's sister Alison Bard
Burnett is as witty as her famous sister Betty MacDonald and shared the
most delightful family stories.

Betty,
I love you! Your books „Anybody can do anything“ and „Onions in the
Stew“ are really outstanding! I take them into my hand, and at a stone's
throw I am right away in America ! Columbus and the egg: The great
discovery!

Your bestseller „The Egg and I“ the greatest
discovery. And you and I! I know America: It's true what you are
writing: That's America: Absolutely right! No, even to the least detail!
The landscape and the passion: Do you know the country where pistols
blossom? Brava, Betty, you are describing the Americans vividly,
genuinely, insufferably, brushed upon paper. If I like to read your
works? To read doesn't even express it! I can even hear and see
everything: Nature, culture, subculture.

America has almost
remained unchanged! O those cool Americans! Calculating, stockmarket,
Wall Street, the financial crisis (even back in 1930), the gamblers, the
bankruptcy of companies! The swarming of dodgers and cheaters. People
left without money. Dispair und hunger! A terrible „Worst Case“ (when I
knew but little English I thought it is sausage with cheese).

Still
how impressive is the ability to adaptone self of the Americans: They
know how to enjoy life, acrobats of survival! In the twinkle of an eye
they achieved to adapt themselves and effect the work of pioneers: In
the morning you are a cleaningwoman, in the evening a brothel woman! No
problem!

„The insufficient, here it's becoming an event; The
indescribable, here it's done;“ Mary Bard Jensen, your sister, was the
treasure trove of procuring work: My word, what a power woman with
unlimited imagination! She has recommended you everywhere: Betty can do
everything, also write novels! Go ahead, sister, hurry up! The editor
wants to see your manuscripts! Up to that point you had not written a
single line! Wow! And if still everything goes wrong? No problem: When
you dream, dream big!

Just look, you have become famous.The Egg
and I You know that, Betty? I'll slip into „The Egg and I“ and come and
be your guest! I want to get to know your chickens. I hate chickens!
I'm a chickens slave from North America! O Betty, without these damned
animals, no chance of you becoming famous! „The Egg and I“ you would
never have written! How many readers you have made happy!

Your
book is so amusing! Your witty fine (almost nasty) remarks about your
family members and roundabout neighbours made me laugh so much! You have
been born into a special family: Comfort was not desired: I can't but
be amazed: What did your father say to your mother? After tomorrow I am
going to work elsewhere: Thousands of miles away...He sent her a
telegram: LEAVING FOR TWO YEARS ON THURSDAY FOR MEXICO CITY STOP GET
READY IF YOU WANT TO COME ALONG – That was on Monday. Mother wired back:
SHALL BE READY, and so she was.That's America! Improvisation, change,
adventure. You show no weakness: Let's go! Your descriptions, Betty,
about the tremendous happenings in nature have deeply frightened me.

Continent
America, I'm terrified by you! I feel so small and threatened like a
tiny fly before an enormous flyswatter! Your novel is very many-sided!
The reader may use it even as a cook book! „The Egg and I“ starts
straight away with a recipe: „Next to the wisdom that lamb meat doesn't
taste good unless it has been roasted with garlic“. Do you enjoy the
American food?

O Betty, it's too fatty for me and I hate garlic!
(Betty is presently cooking lunch for Bob. She's continually talking to
„STOVE“: STOVE is Bob's rival; in the beginning I thought it was being
himself). She turns round and says: Well, so no garlic for you. No lamb
either, Betty. I don't eat any meat! I'd actually prefer only fried
eggs. Betty, let me make them myself. Then you try it!

Blow!
„STOVE“ out of order! I don't succeed in turning it on! Damned! It's got
more of a mind of its own than „STOVE“ of my friend, Hilde Domin! Bob's
coming! He must eat directly! „Men eat anything, the swines! Says your
grandmother Gammy“. Is it true? Do you like my chickens? Bob asked me
without introducing himself. Yes, Bob (rude) I love them! I'm
vegetarian. Do you want to clean the henhouse with me tomorrow? A,
you're always getting up so early at four o'clock! Bob, that's not a job
for me! He looked at me disdainfully! A Roman cissy! You need a
reeducation at once! Help, Bob's attacking me! I rather change the novel
immediately and move to the „Island“!

About Me

Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.